A single fake Twitter post has sparked chaos in both the crypto space and broader financial markets, and both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Twitter itself are looking into what happened.
“The SEC has determined that there was unauthorized access to and activity on the @SECGov x.com account by an unknown party for a brief period of time shortly after 4 pm ET,” the commission told Decrypt late Tuesday. “That unauthorized access has been terminated.”
“The SEC will work with law enforcement and our partners across government to investigate the matter and determine appropriate next steps relating to both the unauthorized access and any related misconduct,” the statement continued.
Describing the SEC Twitter account as “compromised,” chair Gary Gensler rushed to correct the record, saying that “the SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.” The crypto and financial communities eagerly anticipated such a move, albeit most assuming a late Wednesday decision deadline.
The @SECGov twitter account was compromised, and an unauthorized tweet was posted. The SEC has not approved the listing and trading of spot bitcoin exchange-traded products.
— Gary Gensler (@GaryGensler) January 9, 2024
The fake news prompted a sudden dip in the value of Bitcoin, and while the fake tweet was deleted, the incident reverberated throughout the rest of the day. Some commentators asked whether the SEC—which broadly dismisses cryptocurrencies as a too-easily-manipulated market—would have to investigate itself.
BREAKING: Securities lawyers tell @FoxBusiness the @SECGov will have to investigate itself for market manipulation after moving the price of $BTC up and down following the hacked tweet that it had approved the first spot BTC ETF and then saying it was fake. That said, for the SEC…
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) January 9, 2024
Meanwhile, Twitter is is also on the case, according to crypto Twitter influencer Walter Bloomberg.
*X IS ‘INVESTIGATING’ THE CAUSE OF SEC’S COMPROMISED ACCOUNT
— *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) January 9, 2024
Although a prolific poster on his own platform, Twitter owner Elon Musk hasn’t had anything to say about the controversy, instead focusing on immigration, election integrity, and “exclusive shows on X” with hosts Don Lemon, Jim Rome, and Tulsi Gabbard.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Source: https://decrypt.co/212245/sec-twitter-investigate-fake-bitcoin-etf-tweet
